LXer Weekly Roundup for 13-Sept-2009

LXer Feature: 14-Sept-2009

Linux Course: Understanding the GRUB Bootloader: This course provides a basic understanding of GRUB and gives you some illustrations on how to secure it and fix several common problems. GRUB stands for Grand Unified Bootloader and was created in 1995 by Erich Boleyn as he wanted to have a multiboot option. Intel based motherboards must be started with a 16-bit operating system because of a limitation to 640 kilobytes of RAM at startup. GRUB is used to facilitate the 16-bit requirement and load the 32-bit Linux kernel. The AMD CMOS is 64-bit so it can load the 64-bit kernel for Linux. In order for GRUB to work it must use a three step process on CentOS.

New Anti-Linux Propaganda from Microsoft : Screenshots obviously conditioning PC sales personnel to lie about Linux have been discovered in a US forum hosting Windows 7 training modules.

Red Hat hypervisor tools to run on Windows only: Open-source company Red Hat will initially offer its hypervisor management tools for Windows systems only. Paul Cormier, Red Hat's president of products and technologies, told ZDNet Asia's sister site, ZDNet UK at a press conference last week that the hypervisor management software for desktops and servers, which is due out before the end of the year, will be available only for systems running Microsoft's proprietary operating system.

OpenOffice.org: The Limits of Readability and Grammar Extensions: OpenOffice.org: The limits of readability and grammar extensions As a professional writer, my software needs are simple. Give me a text editor -- preferrably Bluefish, but vim or OpenOffice.org Writer will do -- and I have all I need. However, judging by the number of aids available for writers, I am obviously in the minority. Novel-plotting databases, daily word counters, character generators -- if you can imagine the software, you can probably find at least one example. I am fascinated by all the ingenuity, but most of the time I conclude that, if you know enough to use any of these tools without them leading you into greater difficulties, you can do without them. The OpenOffice.org extensions Readability Report and Language Tool are two applications that illustrate my point perfectly.

Opinion: Is Novell Selling FUD or Linux?: Companies with inferior products are often tempted to create Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. Paul Rubens wonder if Novell's FUD campaign a sign of a company that is afraid of the truth.

Ingo Molnar Tests New BF Scheduler: Kernel developer Ingo Molnar has done a benchmark test to compare his Completely Fair Scheduler (CFS) with the recently released BFS from Australian Con Kolivas.

Protecting Linux from Microsoft (Yes, Microsoft Got Caught): Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal’s Nick Wingfield broke a story on Microsoft selling a group of patents to a third party. The end result of this story is good for Linux, even though it doesn’t placate fears of ongoing attacks by Microsoft. Open Invention Network, working with its members and the Linux Foundation, pulled off a coup, managing to acquire some of the very patents that seem to have been at the heart of recent Microsoft FUD campaigns against Linux. Break out your white hats: the good guys won.

OLPC News Exclusive: XO-1.5 Laptop Debut and Speed Test vs. Overclocked XO-1 Laptop: Tonight we experienced a world premier - the XO-1.5 laptop from OLPC debuted at the OLPC Learning Club DC - and we broadcast it live via OLPC News on Twitter. This newest laptop from OLPC features the VIA C7-M a 1GHz variable speed processor, which SJ Klein of OLPC says will empower learning in several key ways..

Five Features We Want to See in Ubuntu: Ubuntu isn't the only Linux operating system, but it's where the dream of a usable, completely free desktop is closest to reality. If every Ubuntu developer were assembled at one place, here are five things we'd ask them to accomplish.

Microsoft Start Their Own Open Source Foundation: The CodePlex Foundation, a non-profit foundation formed with the mission of enabling the exchange of code and understanding among software companies and open source communities, launched today, September 10, 2009. Incorporated as a 501.c6 non-profit, the CodePlex Foundation was created as a forum in which open source communities and the software development community can come together with the shared goal of increasing participation in open source community projects. The CodePlex Foundation will complement existing open source foundations and organizations, providing a forum in which best practices and shared understanding can be established by a broad group of participants, both software companies and open source communities. Initial funding for the Foundation comes from Microsoft Corporation.

LifeHacker and Ubuntu: A Response: Recently LifeHacker had an article talking about five things they would like to see in Ubuntu. The article is very supportive of Ubuntu, and we appreciate that LifeHacker folks, and I wanted to follow up with a few notes about each of the five areas they focused on, particularly with relation to the recently released Alpha 5 development snapshot of the up-and-coming Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala.

IBM Throws Out Microsoft Office : 360.000 IBM workers have been told to stop using Microsoft Office and switch to the Open Office-based software Symphony.